A well-rounded receiving corps is like a basketball team with various sizes and skills. They might play the same position, but they “win” in different ways. Some have the size and jumping ability to play a vertical game while others are quicker and can beat defenders with shiftiness. When speaking about the challenges of defending a diverse group of receivers, Patriots head coach Bill Belichick once explained that “each (receiver) is different and you’re different, so how one defensive back matches up against a different receiver, it’s all a little bit different and you have to figure out what works best for you against different styles of receivers.”

The demands of a bigger receiver’s skillset typically differ from a smaller receiver’s. For this reason, I like to scout and rank big, vertical receivers separately from smaller, shiftier receivers before merging my rankings together. Of course, teams have to get the best player possible, but...